IndyCar all about 'commercially differentiating' McLaren - Brown

McLaren Racing boss Zak Brown says the team's full-time endeavor into IndyCar from 2020 will help bring additional resources to the manufacturer's F1 outfit.

Earlier this month, McLaren announced an association with IndyCar outfit Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports that will see the two entities partner to form Arrow McLaren Racing SP.

The tie-up will see McLaren compete full-time in America's premier open-wheel series for the first time since 1979.

Brown shed some light on the benefits for McLaren as a whole of its involvement in the US.

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"Returning to IndyCar enables us to offer more commercial opportunities to our partners, in a very important market which F1 does not yet penetrate to the level I ultimately think it will do," said the McLaren racing chief executive, in a Q&A published on McLaren's website.

"This is about commercially differentiating ourselves from our competitors to help bring additional resources to our F1 team.

"It will have, and already has had, an impact. It means we’re better positioned for partners coming into the sport.

"Take Arrow Electronics for example, it’s title sponsor of our IndyCar team and a very important partner of our F1 team."

While F1 will always remain McLaren's primary focus, branching out to other categories is a strategy naturally embedded in the manufacturer's heredity.

"F1 will always be the pinnacle of motorsport and the pinnacle for McLaren Racing," added Brown.

"That being said, racing is in our DNA and we have a long history of competing in other forms of motorsport.

"We’ve got a great GT programme with McLaren Automotive, we’re now in IndyCar, and we see sports car racing as a possibility in the future.

"We’ll enter other forms of racing when we think it fits with our brand, complements our F1 team, and will result in success both commercially and on the track."

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